Category: Governance

No democratic experiment for Vietnam’s Market-Leninists

     

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party opened an eight-day congress Thursday to name the country’s new set of leaders, who will determine the pace of critical economic reforms, the fight against corruption… Read more »

10 questions for Francis Fukuyama

     

Is a pessimist simply a well-informed optimist? Francis Fukuyama, author of the famous 1989 essay, “The End of History,” offers his thoughts about the importance of optimism and how so… Read more »

Deriding support for democracy is counterproductive

     

It has become fashionable in some circles to pooh-pooh support for democracy, but Tunisia provides the Arab Spring’s “one encouraging success story”, even if its success is fragile, its economy… Read more »

Forces of change coming to Iran?

     

  Iran‘s president has called on the committee vetting candidates for next month’s parliamentary elections to allow more reformists to stand. In a televised speech, Hassan Rouhani said parliament was… Read more »

Brazil rejuvenates democratic governance in digital age

     

Brazil is in a state of political turmoil, notes Daniel O’Maley, Associate Editor at the National Endowment for Democracy’s Center for International Media Assistance: An investigation into a decades-old kickback… Read more »

Taking stock of Burkina Faso’s democracy

     

  Last week, Burkina Faso seemed a bright spot in the troubled Sahel region of Africa. Little known and rarely discussed, the country found its way into international headlines after… Read more »

Russians ambivalent on democracy, civil liberties?

     

  Russians are more concerned about economic and political stability than democracy, according to a new poll conducted by the Levada Center: The poll asked 1,600 Russian respondents to rank issues they viewed… Read more »

Azeri protests highlight political risks of oil price fall

     

Azerbaijan is to impose a 20 per cent tax on taking money out of the country, as the oil-dependent government scrambles to respond to a currency collapse that has triggered… Read more »

Civil resistance in the Arab Spring: what went wrong?

     

The overriding lesson of the abortive Arab Spring is that getting rid of a dictatorial and corrupt ruler is not enough. Building democratic institutions, and restoring confidence in a flawed… Read more »

Tunisia’s democratic experiment ‘still up for grabs’?

     

Thousands gathered in Tunisia’s capital Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the uprising that inspired the Arab Spring. Tunisians thronged Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main thoroughfare in central Tunis… Read more »